Broken and Blessed

“Blessed” – really? The Greek word is “Makarioi.” Have we translated it right? Are we sure that is what Jesus meant? The poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the desperate for righteousness, the merciful, the innocent, the peacemakers, the persecuted,…they are blessed?

“Makarioi” is a hard word to translate from the Greek. It can be translated “blessed.” It can also be translated “fortunate,” “joyful,” “deeply happy,” or “to be envied.” We commonly call this passage the Beatitudes because the Latin Vulgate translated the Greek “Makarioi” as “Beati,” meaning “blessed.”

I have a study Bible for Small Groups that has questions for discussion in the margins. Next to this passage is the question, “Of the 8 Beatitudes, which 2 do you most desire in your life right now?” As I read commentaries on this passage, I was bothered by how much we have tamed what Jesus said that day sitting on the hillside, looking over the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus has been walking throughout Galilee, the region of Israel to the West of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, teaching in the synagogues in the towns and healing people, and word has traveled. People are coming from all over – not just from Galilee – from Jerusalem and the region south of Jerusalem, from the other side of the Jordan River (the East side), even as far as the Decapolis, the ten cities along the Eastern Border of the Roman Empire, they are coming to follow him.

When he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside, and sat down like a king on his throne, and his disciples came like subjects in a royal court, and the king delivered his inaugural address, laying out what life in his kingdom will be like [Douglas Hare, Interpretation].

N.T. Wright compares Jesus’ description of his kingdom to a scene in an old British film, Breaking the Sound Barrier. In the movie, test pilots are trying to cross the sound barrier. Every time they approach “the magic figure of 735 miles per hour, …the planes disintegrate with the huge vibrations,” or crash. “The controls, it [seems], [refuse] to work properly once the plane [comes] to the sound barrier. Finally, at the climax of the movie, a test pilot, Philip Peel [figures] out what to do. It [seems] that when the plane [breaks] the sound barrier the controls [begin] to work backwards. Pulling the stick to make the plane bring its nose up [sends] it downwards instead.” The only way to see if it works is to try it. He flies to the critical speed and as he crosses the barrier, “instead of pulling the stick back, he [pushes] it forwards. That would normally send the plane into a dive, but his hunch [is] correct. The nose [comes] up, and the plane [flies] on, faster than anyone had travelled before.”

Statements of “Blessed are…” were not new. The format was /this is the group that is blessed/ those /who have this trait or virtue/ with what the result or reward will be. The Psalms are full of them. In fact, the beginning of the first psalm is a beatitude, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” The traditional beatitudes said “Happy are those who live right because things will go well for them.”

Just imagine yourself being in the crowd, settling in to hear this miracle worker speak, and he begins with beatitudes. “YES!” Talk about your motivational speaker! It’s like a suggested article in your newsfeed titled “Eight Ways to Live the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of.” Click on it, right? The crowd settled in to hear the secrets of success, and Jesus says the controls work backward. The Kingdom of God is completely backward to the ways of the world.

I think it is really important that we put ourselves on that hillside and listen just to what Jesus said, and not try to spiritualize it. We have a tendency in church to want to make things cleaner, easier. Even Communion – did you know that there are instructions for how to get the bread at Communion to divide perfectly and still look like you broke the bread? You turn it over and perforate the bottom, and then it comes apart easily into two nice, neat pieces. But when Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and broke it for his disciples, it wasn’t perforated, and when his body was broken for you and for me, it was torn apart. When we remember him, we remember that he experienced the most horrendous pain, the most arduous struggle, the most humiliating death, the most cruel injustice, when we tear apart the bread, it should be tough and jagged. Jesus’ body is broken, and his kingdom is established for those who are broken, too.

Blessed, says Jesus, are the poor in spirit, those who battle depression, those who have little hope. Blessed are those who cry themselves to sleep at night and struggle to get out of bed in the morning. Blessed are those who follow orders, who don’t rebel. Blessed are those who are desperate for righteousness, who suffer injustice and oppression. Blessed are those who are in the midst of unrest and work for peace. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Not because we are supposed to put ourselves in these situations, but because we all find ourselves in them.

Blessed are the broken. Blessed are the hurting. Blessed are the ones who are desperate. Because God is there for them. Because they know their own limitations and their need for God. Because their defenses and independence are broken down, and replaced with acceptance of their dependence on God.

Jesus’ beatitudes were revelatory – brokenness is not a judgment! Struggle is not an indication that God is absent. Instead, pain gives an opening for God to bring healing. Struggle causes us to turn and realize God is present, holding us closer than our next breath. There, in the vulnerability of brokenness, we find blessing. Thanks be to God. Amen.